This document provides information about different coordinate systems used in astronomy and mapping. It discusses the celestial sphere projection and altitude-azimuth and equatorial coordinate systems used to describe positions of celestial objects. It also covers horizon coordinates, celestial coordinates including right ascension and declination, and concepts like the celestial equator, ecliptic, and seasons. The document further summarizes coordinate systems used for mapping earth resources, including local geographic coordinates, projected coordinate systems, and specific projections like Lambert conformal conic and transverse Mercator.

2. FIELD ASTRONOMY
-: CREATED BY :-
ALAY MEHTA 141080106026
SHIVANI PATEL 141080106021
KAVIN RAVAL 141080106026
KUNTAL SONI 141080106028
SUBMITTED TO :-
Prof. NUTAN C. PATEL

3. Longitude Latitude

4. Celestial Sphere:
A projection of altitude and
longitude onto the sky.

5. Positions on the Celestial Sphere
The Altitude-Azimuth Coordinate System
• Coordinate system based on observers local horizon
• Zenith - point directly above the observer
• North - direction to north celestial pole NCP projected onto the plane tangent to the earth at
the observer’s location
• h: altitude - angle measured from the horizon to the object along a great circle that passes
the object and the zenith
• z: zenith distance - is the angle measured from the zenith to the object h=90
• A: azimuth - is the angle measured
along the horizon eastward
from north to the great circle
used for the measure
of the altitude

6. Equatorial Coordinate System
• Coordinate system that results
in nearly constant values for
the positions of distant
celestial objects.
• Based on latitude-longitude
coordinate system for the
Earth.
• Declination - coordinate on
celestial sphere analogous to
latitude and is measured in
degrees north or south of the celestial equator
• Right Ascension - coordinate on celestial sphere analogous to
longitude and is measured eastward along the celestial equator from
the vernal equinox  to its intersection with the objects hour circle

7. POSITIONS ON THE CELESTIAL SPHERE
THE EQUATORIAL COORDINATE SYSTEM
• Hour Angle - The angle between a
celestial object ’ s hour circle and the
observer ’ s meridian, measured in the
direction of the object’s motion around the
celestial sphere.
• Local Sidereal Time(LST) - the amount
of time that has elapsed since the vernal
equinox has last traversed the meridian.
• Right Ascension is typically measured in
units of hours, minutes and seconds. 24
hours of RA would be equivalent to 360.
• Can tell your LST by using the known RA of
an object on observer’s meridian
Hour circle

8. CELESTIAL CORDINATES

9. Sky Coordinates
Horizon Coordinates:
 Horizon - the "sky line", i.e. where the sky apparently meets the earth.
 Azimuth (Az) - Angular coordinate measure around the horizon, starting from the North point
and moving Eastward.
 Altitude (Alt) - angular measure above the horizon along a great circle passing through the
zenith
 North Point - the point that is on the horizon and directly North
 Zenith - The point in the sky directly overhead.
 Nadir - The point directly beneath one’s feet.
 Meridian - the great circle that passes from the North point through the zenith to the South
Point

10. Sky Coordinates
Celestial Coordinates:
 Right Ascension (RA) - similar to Earth longitude but for the sky; RA is measured Eastward starting
from the Vernal Equinox
 Declination (Dec) - similar to Earth latitude but for the sky; Dec is positive in the North Celestial
Sphere and negative in the South
 Celestial Poles - projection of North and South Poles onto the sky
 Celestial Sphere - The imaginary sphere centred on the observer upon which the stars appear to be
projected.
 Celestial Equator (CE) - projection of equator onto the sky
 Ecliptic - apparent path of the Sun over the course of one year
 Solstice - Time of greatest or smallest declination for the Sun.
 Equinox - Time when the Sun crosses the celestial equator. (Vernal = spring)

11. Perspective:
The ecliptic is Earth’s orbital plane around the Sun.

12. Seasons and the Sky
• Vernal Equinox - first day of spring; the Sun lies exactly over
the equator and is passing into the N. hemisphere
• Autumnal Equinox - first day of autumn; the Sun lies exactly
over the equator and is passing into the S. hemisphere
• Summer Solstice - first day of summer; the Sun is highest in
the sky for N. observers (lowest for S. observers)
• Winter Solstice - first day of winter; the Sun is lowest in the
sky for N. observers (highest for S. observers)

13. Sky Coordinates
• Vertical Circle - A secondary great circle in the horizon system. Such a circle
passes through the zenith and nadir and is vertical since it is perpendicular to
the horizon.
• Hour Circle - A secondary great circle in the equatorial system. Such a circle
therefore passes through the celestial poles and is perpendicular to the celestial
equator.
• Hour Angle (HA) - Another longitude-like coordinate in the equatorial
system. It is measured in units of time westward along the celestial
equator from the celestial meridian to the hour circle of a point. (Unlike the
right ascension it does depend both upon the observer's position and also upon
the time. A star's hour angle can be thought of both as an angle and also as the
elapsed time since that star crossed the celestial meridian.)

14. Sky Coordinates
 Celestial Meridian - A great circle passing through the zenith,
nadir, north and south celestial poles, and north and south
points of the horizon. It is both a vertical circle and an hour
circle and is therefore perpendicular to both the celestial
equator and horizon. The celestial meridian bisects the sky into
eastern and western halves.
 Local Sidereal Time (LST) - The hour angle of the vernal
equinox or, equivalently, the right ascension of points on the
celestial meridian. LST is dependent upon the observer's
position and is constantly changing with time.

15. Coordinate systems
• In order to find something one needs a system of
coordinates.
• For determining the positions of the stars and planets
where the distance to the object often is unknown it
usually suffices to use two coordinates.
• Different types of coordinate systems are:
 The Horizon System
 Equatorial Coordinate System .
 Ecliptic Coordinate System.
 Galactic Coordinate System.

17. Local and Projected coordinates for
earth resources mapping
o Local Geographic coordinate systems
o Geographic coordinate systems use a 3-D spherical surface to represent the earth and
define locations on it, which are referenced by longitude and latitude values.
o Because the earth is not completely round, it isn't possible to base a coordinate
system on a perfect sphere. Therefore a variety of "spheroids" are used instead, each
of which is more accurate in a particular part of the world. In North America, the
most popular spheroid is known as GRS 1980. Another spheroid which is used is
WGS 1984.
o Going even further, spheroids can have datum's associated with them, which
incorporate local variations in elevation, since the earth is not really smooth. In
North America, the most popular datum's are NAD 1983 (North American Datum;
based on the GRS 1980 spheroid) and WGS 1984 (World Geodetic System; based on
the WGS 1984 spheroid).

18. coordinate systems
 Projected coordinate systems
Projection refers to the process of representing the earth's round surface as a
flat surface (a piece of paper, or your computer screen). Projected coordinate
systems, or projections, are always based on a geographic coordinate
system.
There are many different types of projections, and each one of necessity
distorts the representation of the earth in some way. When selecting a
projection for your data, it is important to be aware of what distortions are in
place - certain types of distortion are more acceptable for some purposes
than for others.
Here is a description of the features of the projections currently used:

19. coordinate systems
• Lambert Conformal Conic
• Type : Conic
• Properties : Conformal - all angles at any point are preserved.
Maintains shapes for small areas (i.e. large scale maps), but
distorts the size of large areas.
• Common uses : mapping Canada and the US; mapping
equatorial/mid-latitude areas; mapping at large and medium
scales.

20. coordinate systems
• Transverse Mercator
• Type: Cylindrical
• Properties : Conformal - all angles at any point are preserved. Maintains
shape for small areas-specifically, in zones only a few degrees wide in east-
west extent.
Common uses : large scale topographic map series, NTS and USGS maps.
• Planar Projection
A planar projection projects information to a plane. The plane may be either
tangent or secant.

21. Mercantor Cylinderical
• A Mercator projection is
created using a cylinder
tangent at the equator.
• A Transverse Mercator
projection is created using a
cylinder that is tangent at a
selected meridian.
• An Oblique Mercator
projection is created using a
cylinder that is tangent
along a great circle other
than the equator or a
meridian.

22. Lambert Conformal Conic
• A conic projection projects
information from the spherical Earth
to a cone that is either tangent to the
Earth at a single parallel, or that is
secant at two standard parallels.
• Once the projection is complete, the
cone is unwrapped to form a flat
surface.
• The lines where the cone is tangent or
secant are the places with the least
distortion.
• A polyclone projection uses a series of
cones to reduce distortion.

23. Planar Projection
A map projection resulting
from the conceptual
projection of the Earth onto
a tangent or secant plane.
Usually, a planar projection
is the same as an azimuthal
projection.

24. Determination of Latitude
A LATITUDE is also defined as the angle between the zenith & the
celestial equator.